Four hundred years of wedding dresses are on display in Pilgrim Hall Museum

Thursday

May 25, 2017 at 7:00 AM

Showcasing 35 antique and vintage gowns and outfits on mannequins, the Pilgrim Hall Museum exhibit is a visual feast of silk, satin, chiffon, lace, tulle and pearls in elegant designs.

By Jody Feinberg/The Patriot Ledger

A white wedding dress is so customary now, it’s a surprise to realize that it’s a relatively new tradition.

As the summer wedding season begins, the exhibit “Wedding 396: Four Centuries of Wedding Fashion in Plymouth 1621-2016” offers an interesting and fun look behind the veil, so to speak, at the evolution of gowns and wedding behaviors. Showcasing 35 antique and vintage gowns and outfits on mannequins, the Pilgrim Hall Museum exhibit is a visual feast of silk, satin, chiffon, lace, tulle and pearls in elegant designs.

“Wedding dresses tend to be cherished and taken good care of,” said Pilgrim Hall archivist Rebecca Piccirillo. “When they’re donated, they’re usually in very good condition. There hasn’t been a display like this in a very long time.”

Drawn from collections of the Plymouth Antiquarian Society and other historical societies, each dress is identified by its owner, information about the marriage and about the significance of the materials and style.

Rather than a chronological display, the dresses are organized to illustrate tradition and innovation, evolution of custom and other themes.

“We’re trying to dispel some of the myths,” said Piccirillo, who co-organized the exhibit with executive director Donna Curtin. “A lot of people are surprised to see that white was not always the favorite choice and to see the blues and other colors.”

Queen Victoria of England popularized the white gown after she wore one for her 1840 wedding, but many 19th century brides chose color after new chemical dyes created new brilliant shades.

What’s more, the idea that a wedding dress was worn on just one day is recent. Until the 20th century, brides usually expected to wear their wedding gown for other special occasions.

The earliest outfit is a production from the first couple to marry in Plymouth Colony in 1621 – 396 years ago, as referenced in the exhibit title. Susanna White, who married Edward Winslow after each of their spouses died from sickness during the colony’s first winter, wore a red wool jacket tied in the front with blue ribbons and a matching long skirt. Winslow wore a high-necked jacket and pantaloons, both in black, a symbol of status at the time.

“We don’t know exactly what she wore, but we know what an English woman of that time would have worn for a nice occasion,” Piccirillo said. “It would have been the nicest dress she owned.”

Another early gown was an open front dress, a popular English style, which revealed the petticoat underneath. Worn in 1787 by a woman loyal to the British who fled to Canada, the green silk brocade and linen dress has a bold floral pattern.

Many gowns are from the 19th century, when tight bodices over full skirts were common. One of the most impressive is a dress worn by Lucy Damon of Norwell in 1888 that is extravagantly adorned with pearls and beads. A velvet trimmed silk three-piece wedding dress, worn by Priscilla Beals Shaw of Weymouth on 1867, shows the shift from crinoline hoops to soft bustles and the association of blue with piety.

A transformation came in the 20th century, when mass manufacturing and the expansion of the middle class made it possible for brides to indulge in a dress worn only for a single day. They purchased them in department stores or sewed their own from patterns, often imitating the styles of the famous.

Inspired by the glamour and elegance of Depression era actresses like Jean Harlow, Agnes Lillian Cooch of Hanover wore a sinuous satin gown with a lacy star burst on its rounded train in 1937.

“In the 30s silk and satin were the height of fashion,” Piccirillo said. “This was a classic Hollywood style.”

A 1990s dress designed by Alfred Sung, one of the most recent, reflects the late 20th century popularity of sleeveless dresses, which previously were considered too risque for a house of worship.

While the exhibit just touches on men’s fashion, it does display two significant tuxedos – those worn by Richard Sommi and Samuel John Keller, the first same-sex couple to marry in 2004 Plymouth after the Massachusetts Supreme Court legalized gay marriage. One has a bright red tie and cumberbund.

In display cases, objects are showcased that reflect traditions. A torn 17th century stocking and a piece of chocolate wedding cake from 1929, for example, illustrate the traditions of throwing an article of clothing or bouquet and of saving a piece of cake.

Some brides found meaning in wearing their mother’s dress, but altering it to reflect changes in style. Thirty years after her mother’s marriage in 1951, Penny Brewer wore Alice Nowell Hedge’s dress for her marriage to Nate Bekemeier in Hingham. Changing the high neckline into a V-neck, the bride walked down the aisle in an elegantly embroidered silk, satin, chiffon and lace dress. Worn for just those two wedding days, the gown now can be admired by the public for the rest of the year.